It would be easy enough to dismiss, because it came from Tony Parker and everyone knows those Euros are a blunt, forthright, non-PC bunch.

But Devin Harris read it with interest -- perhaps along with traces of pride and embarrassment -- because this was his chief rival and reigning NBA Finals MVP talking. And Parker essentially told the world that the Mavericks were stronger with him than they are without him.

"To be honest with you, I'm really happy for that trade," said Parker, whose Spurs visit Harris and the Nets at Izod Center tonight. "(DeSagana) Diop was doing a job on us. And Devin Harris, most of the time, he played good against us. So I thought it would be good for us."

"No disrespect to Jason Kidd, he's a great point guard. But those guys that left always gave us trouble."

"I saw that. It's a big compliment," Harris said yesterday, adding that Parker's remarks stemmed from "the success of what I've been doing, and obviously I've had more success against the Spurs probably more than any other team."

And for the record, the feeling is mutual: Harris, who will come off the bench again behind Marcus Williams, ranks Parker among the toughest matchups he'll ever face -- which is only logical, since any objective assessment places the Spurs' rocket among the top five-point guards in the game.

"He brings the best out of me. I bring the best out of him," Harris said. "I've had some success against him, and he's definitely had some success against me. I look at it as a challenge of two guys with similar games. It's fun out there."

Lawrence Frank isn't even going to try to explain why his team is averaging 105.6 points since Kidd left -- that's an increase of 11 ppg -- but he thinks the balloon is going up too quickly with regard to the recent talk about the Nets becoming an offense-first team.

"Look, we have to be a whole lot better offensively than we were previously," the coach said. "At the same time, to win games you have to play both ends. There are very few teams that can do it at one end -- meaning, you can't just guard and not score and win; and you can't just score and not guard and win.

"We have no problems playing up and down in transition and forcing the tempo and forcing our will on the game. But there's no bailout or cop-out to not playing defense. That's not winning basketball. You have to play both ends, that's part of the deal. It's not about picking or choosing, it's about doing both. That's what good teams do."

The rotation is always fluid, because coaches reserve the right to change their minds and fall in and out of love with players daily. But it would appear that Sean Williams' current status as third-stringer/matchup specialist is not going to change in the foreseeable future.

"We're getting there," Frank said, when asked about his rotation. "We'll have Devin off the bench, then Boki (Nachbar). And DeSagana (Diop) is the backup 5 and Stromile (Swift) the backup 4."

Sean Williams has played only seven minutes in the last two games combined.